So my time in Moorea has slowly reached its end. I’m saying slowing because I’m attempting to savor every last second I can on this beautiful island I’ve been able to call home for the last two months. When I look back, it seems like the other day I first arrived here and everything about…
It’s a humbling experience when you come across something that puts your life a little bit more into perspective. Today, it was an up-close encounter with a nine foot lemon shark that gave me a sharp reminder of how fragile we actually are in an ocean that is truly immense. So ‘Piti nui ma’o? Aita…
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, to gain all while you give, to roam the roads of lands remote. To travel is to live.” – Hans Christian Andersen I couldn’t be happier here. This island is truly remarkable and the experiences I am gaining are invaluable. Both on land and in the sea,…
RESEARCH LIFE — My time here in Moorea has been glorious, to say the least. Not only am I working in a beautiful place, surrounded by incredibly hardworking people, but I am taking every opportunity I can to learn more, absorb more, and explore more fields of research that interest me. Right now, I am…
Tall tales of sea demons and sea monsters appear to have captivated the human psyche in cultures all around the world. In Polynesian mythology Rogo-tumu-here is known as the demon-octopus. The legend goes that Rogo-tumu-here captured the daughter of the ocean goddess Faumea and carried her to the depths of the ocean. She was rescued when…
“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious – the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” – Albert Einstein So the last couple days have been extra exciting! As I may have mentioned before, the MCR-LTER is a site that is part of a larger LTER (Long-Term…
Well, I have been out for the last couple days! On Saturday I got the go ahead from Keith to gear up and head out to dive. Yay! It was so exciting to go back out and explore more of the island. I went out with Jessica, one of the MCR lab techs who is…
So I’ve learned quickly here that every day is filled with its own surprises. Waking up yesterday to the sound of the waves crashing gently on the shore and the bright sun rising up from the mountains, the promise of a bright beautiful day seemed evident. Or so we all thought. Around noon, the winds…
Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel’s immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing how others do things differently, what we believed to the right and only way. – Ralph Crawshaw *** Firstly, I will say that before coming to Moorea, I…
Welcome to Gump Station! (La Ora Na – Hello!) My favorite view from the hammock : ) The dorms and our little beach front on the bay. Right in front of the station is a reef we call Gump Reef. After work, sometimes we hop in the water and go for a snorkel around the…
So in Moorea, there is only one road. And it circles the entire island. It didn’t take too long to get to the Richard B. Gump South Pacific Research Station. Once we got to the station, we were greeted with wagging tails by the station dogs, Chicken and Guinness. After getting settled into our rooms…
It was a very warm, crystal-clear blue water welcome from Moorea as we arrived by ferry from Tahiti on Friday morning. We ended up spending the first night at a hotel in Papeete, the largest city and capital of French Polynesia. From the ferry port, we could see the looming mountains of Moorea, often called the…
In the next couple hours I’ll be boarding a flight that will take me across the Pacific ocean and into the heart of paradise! I’ll be landing in Papeete, Tahiti, and then taking a short ferry to the island I’ll call home for the next three months, a beautiful island in French Polynesia known as…
Jaclynxmoana 